


forbidden fruit

by kr4k3n



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Angst, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, King GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Knight Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), M/M, Pining, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:54:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29770290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kr4k3n/pseuds/kr4k3n
Summary: george is dream’s best friend, the boy he’s been in love with since they were both children.he’s also the prince, the person dream is sworn to protect, and the one person dream can never have.
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 46





	forbidden fruit

Dream wanders across the meadow, making his way through the long grass, which ripples as he parts it. If he squints, he can see a little clearing, shadowed by trees and the royal castle looming over it. The castle isn't even that close, but it's large, and takes up so much space. 

He looks down as he walks, at the little flowers sprouting at his feet. They’re a deep purple, like most plants that grow close to the castle grounds. He isn’t exactly sure why, but he’s heard whispers around town that the magic of the castle’s sorcerers bleeds into the earth around the castle, tainting the plants. 

Looking back up, he finds he only has to take three large steps until he finally stumbles into the clearing. He brushes off his pants, which are already a little torn up from wear, and winces as he has to pluck a pricker from his ankle. He flicks it onto the ground and grinds it under his heel. 

Dream scuffs his shoe against the ground and makes his way deeper into the clearing. Light filters through tangled tree branches and reflects onto the grass, which is yellowed from heat and negligence. He imagines what this place could have been, once—maybe a place for the castle children to play in between lessons, or somewhere the knights met in their off time. 

As he’s lost in thought, his foot catches on the gnarled root of a tree and he stumbles, slamming to the ground with an oomph. His hands, which caught his fall, are stinging and raw now. He turns them over and cringes as he sees they’re all scraped up, red and bloody. 

His first thought is how mad his mum is going to be. She always goes on about how he better be careful, because we can’t afford to patch you up every time you fall. And at the tender age of twelve, Dream falls a lot. His mum doesn’t even know he’s out here, Dream thinks. She’s out working, under the impression that he’s still in town, playing jacks or hopscotch with the neighborhood kids. 

The neighborhood kids are boring. Dream would much rather go on an adventure than play at one. 

He’s about to get to his feet when the bushes rustle in front of him. He freezes. Suddenly, his mum’s warnings of all the monsters that crawl through the woods, starving for flesh and bloated with magic, flash through his brain. 

He reaches for his side, where a wooden sword hangs from an old leather belt he’s wrapped twice around his waist. He unsheaths it like he’s seen the knights who sometimes come into town—in one fluid motion, he has the handle gripped tightly in both hands, even though they’re still burning. The sword shakes a little in front of him, and he resists the urge to squeeze his eyes shut. He’s going to be brave, like the knights. 

He’s trying to scramble to his feet with both hands still gripping the sword as there’s more rustling, and a figure tumbles out of the bushes. Dream screams. The figure screams back. 

But it’s not a banshee howl or the bark of a wild dog. It’s a purely human scream. It’s a boy’s scream. 

Dream falls silent, and so does the boy. For a moment, they just stare at each other. 

The boy has dark hair, perfectly styled except for a single strand, which falls in his face, brushing against one wide eye. His mouth is open in a delicate, curious o. Dream’s gaze flickers down to his clothes. They’re a little scuffed up, and clearly old, but also finely made. The stitches on his trousers are small and precise, the work of a machine or an expert. He’s got a small bag strung around a shoulder—it’s red and velvety. 

Before Dream can speak, the other boy hesitates, before wordlessly offering a hand. He hesitates before switching his sword to the other hand and taking it. 

He’s pulled to his feet, but the boy snatches his hand away in disgust a few moments later. “You’ve got blood on your hands!” he wrinkles up his nose. His voice is strange, a little posh, but Dream kind of likes it. It’s different from the rougher voices of the village. 

“I fell,” Dream offers simply. 

The other boy opens his bag and pulls out—a handkerchief? Dream’s only seen those tucked into the pockets of the lords and ladies who pass through town once in a blue moon. The boy wipes his hands on the white fabric and Dream cringes as the cream is tainted with his deep red blood. The boy holds the handkerchief out expectantly, and Dream snatches it from him, rubbing his hands on it until his hands are almost clean and can see the individual cuts on his hand, beginning to heal together. 

“Thanks,” he says, a little warily, as he hands it back. The boy takes it with his pointer and thumb and looks at it scornfully before dropping it to the ground. Then he tilts his head for a moment, contemplating, before seeming to take pity on him. The boy fishes in his bag before pulling out two plump purple fruits and tossing one to Dream, who fumbles a little before he catches it. 

He inspects it. The fruit is hardly blemished, smooth and a little fuzzy. And maybe he shouldn’t be taking fruit from a stranger, but it doesn’t look like it’s been tampered with. He takes a bite, and wow.   
Sweetness explodes in his mouth and he has to wipe his mouth as some juice dribbles out. 

“This is-” Dream says, in between ravenous bites- “so good.” 

The boy looks at him with amusement. “Who are you, anyway?”

“Dream,” he sticks out a hand, still using the other one to devour the fruit. 

The boy shakes his hand, wiping it on his trousers after, and Dream realizes it’s probably sticky with juice. “I’m George,” he says, giving a hesitant smile. The name itches at Dream’s brain somehow, oddly familiar. 

“So what were you doing out here?” Dream waves his hand around, tossing the core of the fruit to the ground.   
George, looking proud, opens the bag to his side and tilts it until Dream can see inside. There’s probably a dozen of the same fruit he’s just eaten crowded in the bag. Dream salivates, even though he can still taste their sweetness in his mouth. 

“What about you?” George asks properly and Dream looks up.

“Oh, I’m adventuring,” Dream puffs his chest out a little, trying to look a bit braver, but flushes as George snorts. “I’m pretty far from my town,” he adds, pointing where he’s come from. 

“Oh, you live in the town?” George’s eyes widen.

“You don’t?”

George shakes his head, points behind him, where the castle looms.

“You’re from the castle?” Dream gasps. 

George nods. “But I still think it’s cool you live in the town,” he shrugs. 

Dream scoffs. “Sure, ‘cause you’ve probably never been there. It’s so boring,” he says, stretching out the o sound. 

“Well it’s boring inside the castle, too,” George crosses his arms. “They never let me do anything.”

“Oh,” Dream says, thinking, “that doesn’t sound very fun.”

George shrugs. “My father says I should appreciate where I live because other people have it worse, but it’s hard when he never lets me do anything.”

Dream tilts his head, “Well…” George waits expectantly, “I could take you on some of my adventures, if you’d like. I have good adventures.” Dream doesn’t really have any obligation to bring this sheltered boy around with him, but something about the eagerness in his eyes softens him. “I could bring Sapnap, too,” seeing George’s puzzled expression, he adds, “he’s my best friend.”

“I’ve never had one of those,” George says, a little sadly. 

“Well, I can already tell we’ll be good friends,” Dream says confidently, “and I don’t talk to many people, either, so you’re pretty much guaranteed a number two friend spot at this rate. Sapnap’s first.”

George brightens. “Really?”

Dream nods. “Meet me back here, same time tomorrow. Wear something you don’t mind getting a little dirty.”

George gives him a little salute, spins around, and walks out of the clearing. 

Dream is left standing by himself, a bit puzzled, still trying to remember what George’s name reminds him of. After a moment he gives up on it and begins his trek back to town. He can’t wait to tell   
Sapnap all about the strange boy he met in the woods. 

Dream taps his fingers against the rotting log he’s sat on. Across from him, Sapnap is sprawled on his back on a patch of grass in the clearing, arm held up to shade from the sun. 

“I’m beginning to think you made all this up,” Sapnap sighs. 

Dream sighs. “Just be patient,” he huffs. “He’ll show up eventually, I’m sure of it.”

It’s a little cloudy today, hard to see where the sun is in the sky, but it must’ve been an hour past when they were supposed to meet. Dream grumbles and flicks a caterpillar off his leg. It lands on   
Sapnap’s chest and he squeals and scrambles up, brushing frantically at his shirt. 

Dream doubles over, wheezing, and that’s how he misses George appearing at the edge of the clearing. Sapnap notices him first and falls silent, and Dream looks up. 

“Hi,” George says, tentatively, giving them a little wave. Today he’s wearing less fancy clothes, but they’re a little too big on him, like he took them from someone else. He still has his bag strung over his shoulder, and Dream can see the outline of some fruit at its bottom. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” he says, quickly, “I couldn’t get out of my lessons.”

“S’okay,” Dream shrugs. He glances over at Sapnap, who looks like he just saw a ghost. His mouth is a little open and he looks pale. He gives him a glare. “Sapnap, this is George. George, Sapnap,” he introduces them. 

“Gimmie a second-” Sapnap hisses and grabs Dream’s wrist, hard, tugging him behind the trees and out of sight. 

“What was that?” Dream whisper-yells. 

“Do you seriously not know who that is?” Sapnap stabs a finger towards the direction they came from. 

“George?” Dream says, trying not to sound stupid and horribly failing. 

“Yeah,” Sapnap says, “George as in Prince George.” Dream pauses, “The one with the crown?” Sapnap mimes a crown, making a circle over his head with his fingers, “Lives in the castle? We studied his family for months during lessons?"

"To be fair, I wasn't paying much attention in those lessons,” Dream pries his wrist from Sapnaps hand. 

He really should have recognized George’s name. 

And it should change things, but he still sees George as a nervous kid who just wants to make friends. How mean would it be to give him hope and snatch it away from him in the span of 24 hours?  
Sapnap gives him a look that says seriously? “So the person you want to bring along on an adventure in possibly the most dangerous woods in the kingdom—is also the sole heir to the Kinoko throne   
and one of the most valuable people throughout all of the kingdoms?”

“Yes…” Dream says, wincing a little. 

For a moment, Dream thinks Sapnap is going to drag him all the way back into town. But after a pause, he just flashes a wild grin and says, “Let’s not keep him waiting, then.”   
Dream sighs in relief and elbows Sapnap as they tumble into the clearing again, to face a nervous-looking George. He’s fiddling with the strap on his bag, and it strikes Dream that he probably heard snippets of their conversation. 

Dream looks at Sapnap, then back at George. “Well, I heard the Fountain of Youth is that way-” he points north- “so want to help us find it?”

The tension dissolves, and George nods eagerly. 

Sapnap leads the way as Dream makes sure George doesn’t trip over the tangled roots or get caught in the briar bushes. By the time they’re properly on their way, George has joined Dream and Sapnap’s steady banter with ease, and they make their way into the heart of the forest, leaving behind trails of broken sticks and faded laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> this is the only chapter thats kidfic :)
> 
> kudos and comments are v pog !!


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